Tiered Quality Assurance OverviewAugust 2014

Theory of Action

Our TQA work is grounded in the 2014 Denver Plan.

● “Great Schools in Every Neighborhood: DPS will dramatically increase the quality of schools available in every neighborhood to ensure that every student in every community throughout the district has access to great schools.”

○ By 2020, 80% of students from every region within DPS will attend a high performing school, as measured by the district’s SPF.

● “Ensure schools are empowered through flexible, school- based decision making.”● “Expand high quality school choices in all communities, through differentiated supports and

improvements for schools, new school strategies, turnaround efforts and strong accountability systems.”

We Believe● schools should drive performance from good to great

● schools should be held accountable for results while remaining autonomous

● schools should be pushed to improve through a balance of optional support and mandatory accountability measures

● chronically underperforming schools should be transitioned to a higher performing option

What is Tiered Quality Assurance?● Tiered* Quality Assurance is a system of differentiated

supports, oversight, strategic planning, and accountability measures that are aligned to push schools to dramatically improve or be closed or transitioned within a time period that reflects the urgency of our mission.

*“Tiered” refers to a differentiated system of supports and accountability measures based on a school’s academic and organizational performance needs.

TQA Concept

● TQA can be seen as RTI for schools.

intensive

Strategic

universal

Schools with significant academic performance concerns and/or numerous operational risk factors

Schools that may need additional support and oversight including: Year 1 charter or innovation schools, schools that have conditional contracts and/or display 1-2 organizational risk factors or signs of low performance

Schools in the universal tier are schools with strong performance, relative stability, and no associated

organizational health risk factors.

How does TQA fit into other OSRI processes?

● TQA is a system of touchpoints between approval and renewal.

Ongoing Tiered Quality Assurance

Support vs. Accountability

TQA balances support and accountability to empower schools to drive their improvement efforts. The table below defines “support” and “accountability.”

Support Accountability● optional● school-owned● collaborative (with OSRI or other schools)● focused on thought partnership● aligned with Denver Plan Goals● meant to push schools from good to great

● mandatory● guided by local/ state/ federal statute● focused on data● Used to inform renewal recommendations● aligned with Denver Plan Goals

Tiered QA: A Balance of Accountability and Support

Accountability

Criteria Informing District Tiered Support Framework

Essential Question District TSF Tiering Criteria Charter-Specific Tiering Criteria

Is the school meeting academic and enrollment expectations?

•3 year of academic and SPF data•Current SPF status (Red/Orange)•Significant declines on SPF of >10%•Declines in enrollment >10%, lower than average demand for region

•ELA Performance – ACCESS MGP less than 50, disaggregated combined TCAP MGP less than 150•TCAP subgroup – red on SPF indicators

Are the necessary conditions for school success present?

Leadership tenure and data, staff turnover, teacher perception data, and school’s capacity to engage in significant, accelerated improvement

•Governance Capacity (Governance Quality Framework)•Financial Performance (Financial Performance Framework – “red” on one or more indicators)•Life Cycle (Year 1 schools receive additional monitoring/support)•Is the school meeting contract performance conditions?

Does the body of evidence suggest redesign, turnaround, or closure/non-renewal?

History of school and interventions/support, availability of higher performing options, community engagement

•Contract terms

Universal Tier detail

supports:● help navigating district● optional fall kick-off meeting● ELA support and review● peer to peer learning opportunities

accountability:● discipline data monitoring● renewal/ Year One site visits● Governance Quality Assurance● monitoring parent grievances

Strategic Tier detail

support:● peer-to-peer learning (Enter to Learn,

Critical Friends, Compact Blue, etc.)● data analysis supports● board presentations on data analysis

accountability:● targeted school quality reviews● performance data monitoring ● ELA program review and progress

monitoring● UIP support and review

*-New to charter leadership, excluding CMO principals who receive network supports

Intensive Tier detail

support:● goal setting and visioning thought partnership● peer to peer learning opportunities

accountability:● comprehensive SQF site visit review and feedback● enhanced data monitoring (ie, more frequent financial

reporting, testing observation, enrollment monitoring, ELA program progress monitoring, and analyzing survey data)

● data analysis/ aligned UIP support ● Board presentations and data review

Monitoring/Supports: Site Visits - School Qualitative Framework Review

Purpose: To gather qualitative information about a school to document performance and provide the school with feedback for school improvement. Types of Site Visits:

TQA Timeline Overview

Early Fall: Tiering announcements, initial meetings w/ board chairs & school leaders, goal setting/ visioning/ thought partnership (UIP development)

Late Fall: TQA visits & qualitative site visit reports, board meeting (data presentations, TQA process overview, etc.), UIP draft/review/ approval process

Winter: TQA mid-year progress monitoring, data check-ins, targeted walkthroughs, UIP goals monitoring, year one visits

Spring: TQA visit follow-ups, board check-ins, mid-year school performance presentations to DPS leaders

Ongoing peer-to-peer learning opportunities, GQA data monitoring, open communication with schools, interim data monitoring

Past performance/ goal setting

collect qualitative data/ execute plan

execute plan/ measure progress against goals assess

improvement

TQA Timeline Detail: Intensive schools

Spring TQA visit follow up-- May/

June

Charter schools tiered by OSRI/ OSRI notifies board

Initial Tiering Meeting with Board chair and school leader-- explain TQA process

UIP development: Visioning/ Re-visioning Protocol based on school identified growth areas

Qualitative data gathering: TQA site visits

OSRI & schools develop year-long plan utilizing supports and accountability measures

Output Root Cause Analysis in UIP

SUPPORT: peer-to-peer, targeted

walkthroughs, etc.

ACCOUNTABILITYinterim data monitoring

mid-year reports: reporting

qualitative and quantitative measures

Tiered Support 2013-2014

● Universal Tier○ Notices of Concern○ Disproportionality Monitoring

■ Sims○ Parent Grievance Liaison

■ field calls, communicate with school leader, provide district leaders call logs and metrics

○ Online Testing Support ■ site visits, connecting with District resources

○ UIP support and feedback

Tiered Support 2013-2014

● Universal Tier● Critical Friends site visits

○ Host: McMeen■ Wyatt Academy

○ Rocky Mountain Prep■ Wyatt Academy

○ University Prep■ Wyatt Academy

○ Host: High Tech high School■ SWEC, CHS, Sims

○ Host: KIPP Sunshine Peak MS ■ CCA, Sims, Monarch

Tiered Support 2013-2014

● Strategic Tier:○ TQA Site Visits: Monarch, CHS, SWEC, DLS (ELA),

Cesar Chavez○ Year One schools:

■ Site visits● Academy 360, DDES, STRIVE Excel HS, DSST Byers● collected Year One observations (shared with NS team)

■ Board Engagement:● DDES: observation, leader evaluation pres.● Academy 360: observation, data analysis presentation

Tiered Support 2013-2014

● Strategic Tier:○ ELA support:

■ Training Channel● Mandatory for all ELA teachers

■ ELA walkthrough

Tiered Support 2013-2014

● Intensive Tier○ Site Visits

■ Escuela, Wyatt, Sims-Fayola, SOAR GVR ○ Instructional Walkthroughs:

■ Wyatt: ELA & Literacy (with Megan, SFA lens)

Tiered Support 2013-2014

School Closure/ Transition● SOAR Oakland

○ In October 2013, the SOAR board voted to revoke its charter

○ In November 2013, the DPS board voted to not renew SOAR’s charter

○ From November- July, DPS and SOAR worked together to transition the school to district control, the new Oakland Elementary

School Closure

● Key considerations○ New school

■ where will students attend next year? ○ Manner of closure

■ transition, closure, or phase out■ voluntary or mandated

● (will inform level of collaboration)○ Facility

■ District or private○ Assets

■ CDE-funded, CMO, or District

TQA 2014-2015

● Key Changes to the DPS landscape○ CAIO office

■ combines CSO with OSRI○ Denver Plan 2014

■ emphasis on “great schools in every neighborhood”

○ District-wide emphasis on Relay GSE levers■ standards implementation, observation &

feedback, and culture

Relay levers:

standards implementation

observation & feedback

culture

● rigor● differentiation/

personalization● data-driven instruction

● regular intervals● standards-based● outcome driven

● student culture● staff culture

A Menu of Universal SupportsThe Menu of Universal Supports is a continuum of supports in which schools may opt to take part. Some of these supports may have associated costs.● Standards Implementation

○ Peer to Peer learning■ critical friends, Compact Blue

○ Enter to Learn 2.0/ targeted walkthrough (ELA, SPED, etc.)● Observation and Feedback

○ board training-- leader observation & evaluation○ data analysis training

■ SPF meeting with board● Culture

○ monthly discipline meetings with Dr. Downing○ Board presentation on disproportionality

A Continuum of Universal Supports

low high

Enter to Learn 2.0: monthly visit to schools open to all educators

Personalized Learning Field Manager PD/ Hangout

Targeted walkthrough: ELA, SPED, literacy, etc.

Year-round Leverage Leadership affinity group

Critical Friends site visit with PoP

Board Training: data analysis, leader eval., etc.

discipline disaggregation Board presentation

monthly discipline meeting with Dr. Downing

Year Round Cultural Responsiveness Affinity group

PLIF grant/ Compact Blue

Mandatory Measures for Tiered Schools● SQF site visit

○ observational site visit with TQA team○ qualitative report ○ spring follow-up

● Targeted school walk-through○ ELA, literacy, SPED/intervention, etc.

● Program monitoring of data ○ Interim assessment data○ Mid-year data

● UIP support○ root cause analysis meeting○ goal setting

● Governance Quality Assurance

The Future of TQA

● increase board involvement● proactively leverage expertise in district● align TQA actions with UIP planning early on● increase peer-to-peer support● increase school ownership of improvement● pre-plan touchpoints with school